Regaling the world with music

The lessons he received were often erratically scheduled.

"My uncle was living in the northern part of Taiwan. He would come down to my house once every six months to teach me some basic (piano lessons), and I would write down notes and practice for half a year," Chen says.

At the age of 6, the child prodigy won his first piano competition in Taiwan playing Beethoven's piano sonata Pathetique.

At the age of 10, he made his debut as a concert pianist with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. Three years later, the Taiwan government adjudged him extraordinarily gifted. He was later sent to Austria to study.

Still in his teens, he entered the Vienna Conservatory as its youngest student, since all his classmates were in their 20s. Owing to financial constraints, it took 10 years before he saw his family again.

But he kept in touch with them by writing letters. Every lunar new year and Mid-Autumn Festival, when it was cheaper to make calls, Chen would get on the phone to spend a few precious moments with his loved ones.

"It was even more heartbreaking to speak with them," he says. "It only reminded me of the fact that I was away and made me miss them more."

In Vienna, where he studied under master teacher Dianko Iliew, he devoted all his time to practicing piano and going to the opera. He lived in a shabby building with no elevator, no private toilet or bath, so that neighbors would not complain about his constant practicing.

He devoured all the music the Austrian capital had to offer, alongside opera. As he could only afford the cheapest standing tickets, he would stand there for hours at a time, completely lost in the music.

"Being a true music fanatic, I went to almost a hundred opera performances," he says. "I was amazed because it was impossible at the time to have such access to classical music in Taiwan or even (elsewhere in Asia)."

After graduating with a diploma in piano performance with the highest marks, he continued to study under maestro Arie Vardi at the Hannover Hochschule fur Musik and received the soloist's examination award. Later he studied with the world-renowned Russian piano virtuoso Lazar Berman, as his only disciple from Asia.

"It is very important to understand the Western culture before you can perform their art," he says. "Your audience can tell whether you have an understanding of their culture and music.